This invention relates to a system for controlling the internal temperature of an infant compartment within an infant incubator, and, more particularly, to a system that detects the temperature of the air at two locations in the overall heating system for the infant incubator to determine the temperature within the infant compartment as well as to derive other useful information concerning the operation of the heating system of the infant incubator.
There are, of course, many differing systems for controlling the temperature within an infant compartment of an infant incubator. Generally, the purpose of such systems is to provide accurate and reliable thermal regulation to the infant positioned within that infant compartment. As such, the infant incubator generally includes a heating system that provides a flow of heated air into the infant compartment to warm the infant. The temperature and/or flow of the warm air is closely regulated so that the internal conditions of the infant compartment are the desired conditions for that particular infant.
In carrying out such heating, various systems are in use or published that sense the air temperature within the infant compartment and use that temperature as input to the controller that operates the heating system. Other systems may sense the skin temperature of the infant, either as a control input or as a monitoring input as well as the sensing of various temperatures within the infant compartment. In general, there are many differing systems and locations for the sensing of temperatures used to control and/or monitor the conditions within the infant compartment and to insure that the heating system is operating within the expected parameters.